Get Connected!

MASNsports.com is your online home for the latest Orioles and Nationals
news, features, and commentary. And now, you can connect with MASN on
every digital level. From web and social media to our new mobile alert service,
MASN has got all the bases covered.

Can the Orioles improve at working the count?

Programming note: Today's game is not airing on MASN, and instead is being broadcast on FOX. More information can be found here.

With the Orioles' offense continuing to struggle, the issue of taking more pitches and trying to increase the opposing starters' pitch count often comes up.

The Orioles want to become a good team at working counts, but right now, they just are very inconsistent at it. Some nights it happens, but many times it doesn't.

Also, when a team is struggling to score, hitters can sometimes become too aggressive as they try to get hits and get runs on the board.

"It's been a challenge for us," Orioles' manager Buck Showalter said today. "What comes first? You are always looking for that buffer between being aggressive and being selective. Every hitter is always looking for that.

"Many pitchers try to get you out, out of the strike zone. When you fall behind (in the game) and you are trying to hit a three-run homer with nobody on base, you are trying to get it back too quickly, instead of grinding the at-bat and passing the baton like we had hoped to do coming out of spring and we have done at times.

"Nothing that a couple of good games kind of doing that, could change the whole mindset."

The Orioles have scored just six runs over their last three games and have produced just ten total hits in losing the past two days by a combined score of 15-3.

They have scored three runs or less in more than half of their 31 games to date. They are 2-14 in games where the offense produces three or fewer runs.